This invention relates to electrical connectors for printed circuit boards. In particular, the present invention is a dust/protective cover that is removably attached to a printed circuit board electrical connector having a plurality of exposed pin terminals. The dust/protective cover prevents pin terminal damage, electrostatic discharge damage, and the collection of dust in the electrical connector that can render the electrical connector useless or diminish the overall quality of the electrical connector.
Electrical connectors are widely used in the electronics industry in a variety of products including computers and telecommunication devices. One such electrical connector is the generically known "2 mm Hard Metric (HM) Electrical Connector". This type of electrical connector is manufactured by various companies. On such manufacturing organization is Amp Incorporated of Harrisburg, Pa. which manufactures a 2 mm HM connector under its Z-PACK trademark. Typically, one or more of these 2 mm HM electrical connectors are mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB) to allow the PCB to be electrically connected (i.e., plugged) to a mother board, input/output (I/O) cards, other PCB's and/or other electrical components. These 2 mm HM connectors include a plurality of pin terminals (i.e., male connector) that are plug compatible with socket terminals (i.e., female connector) of a corresponding compatible connector to allow data and/or power to be transmitted between the joined components.
Although the coupling of the pin terminals with the socket terminals forms a reliable electrical connection, there arc some drawbacks in the use of pin/socket electrical interconnects. For example, once the 2 mm HM connectors are attached to a PCB, the pin terminals of the 2 mm HM connectors are subject to damage during normal handling, as a result of repeated electrical connects and disconnects, and/or during process development. Pin damage renders the electrical connector useless, and repair of the electrical connector (if possible) is time consuming and costly. As such, operational PCB's having 2 mm HM connectors with damaged pin terminals are often replaced simply because of the damaged pins.
In addition, over time, empty 2 mm HM connectors that will eventually get an I/O card (or any other additional PCB connection), and 2 mm HM connectors of PCB's in storage are subject to dust collection. The accumulation of dust on the pin terminals of these 2 mm HM electrical connectors can cause a loss of electrical contact in one or more of the terminal pins when mated with the corresponding compatible female connector. This loss of electrical contact may cause start-up problems, intermittent operation or total inoperability, thereby causing the overall quality of the electronic device, incorporating the dust affected electrical connectors, to be diminished.
Moreover, these 2 mm HM connectors, the PCB's to which these connectors are mounted and other electronic components mounted to the PCB's are susceptible to electrostatic discharge (ESD). ESD is caused when the electrical potential of an individual is different from that of an electronic device. When the individual touches a 2 mm HM connector, for example, this electrical potential difference manifests itself as an electric spike to the connector. This spike can jump from the connector to the PCB and the electronic components causing damage to sensitive electronics. This ESD caused damage can adversely affect the overall operation of the electronic device or cause the electronic device to become inoperable, thereby necessitating time consuming and costly repairs.
There is a need for a protective cover for PCB electrical connectors. In particular, there is a need for a protective cover for an electrical connector that prevents pin terminal damage, ESD damage, and the collection of dust in the electrical connector that can render the electrical connector, its associated PCB and electronic components useless or diminish the overall quality of the electronic device incorporating these components. The protective cover should reliably provide these features so as to preclude time consuming and costly repairs of the electrical connector and the associated PCB's and electronic components. In addition, the protective cover should be readily removable from and replaceable on the electrical connector. Lastly, the protective cover should be relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and relatively simple to install onto electrical connectors for PCB's.